Mobile computing devices such as laptop computers, portable digital assistants (PDAs), etc. are commonly used in business to increase worker productivity, increase communications capabilities and generally increase overall worker efficiency. These same types of devices are also used by many people for personal use such as to download information from the Internet. Importantly, these mobile computing devices are powered on batteries, which are recharged by A/C adapter power supplies.
It is not uncommon to use the internal power source, e.g., battery, of the device, whether it is for business or personal use. However, batteries in mobile computing devices have limited capacity (time) and have to be recharged periodically or they will power down unexpectedly which, in turn, can lead to loss of information. To recharge the battery, it is necessary for the user to plug the device into an A/C power source. These devices, though, begin to consume electricity with other devices on the electrical grid, such as computers, servers, appliances, etc. This places a drain on the grid, and may not use electricity in the most efficient manner. For example, the mobile devices may be plugged into the electric outlet during peak usage times, resulting in the batteries being charged at the highest possible costs (when they could have been charged at another time).